


Erased

by rilina



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-10
Updated: 2008-12-10
Packaged: 2017-10-05 09:03:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rilina/pseuds/rilina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Yamato joins ANBU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Erased

**Author's Note:**

  * For [quadrifons](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=quadrifons).



> For quadrifons' prompt: "Naruto - Yamato, rain."

The fall rain is so cold that it might as well be snow, yet Tenzou lingers at the jounin training grounds, forcing his numbed fingers into the seals for Mokuton again and again and again. He is still struggling to bend his bloodborn abilities to his will when Sandaime appears without warning from the shadows of the surrounding trees. He waves a sheet of paper in front of Tenzou's face. It's already damp through, and the inked characters are beginning to run.

"Do you have a mission for me, Hokage-sama?" Tenzou asks, as polite as ever despite being on the brink of utter exhaustion.

"This was delivered to my office this morning. Do you care to explain it?"

"It's my ANBU application, sir. I thought--"

"Would you have turned it in if I had not just told you the truth about what happened to you as a child?" Tenzou is silent; it's better than lying. "Nothing Orochimaru did changes who you are."

"ANBU can use me, sir. I'll master Mokuton. Shodaime's lost jutsus--"

"Forget my sensei." Sandaime sighs. "Forget Mokuton. Tenzou, you are a jounin of Konoha. You don't have to be anyone but yourself."

The rain's still falling, and the application in Sandaime's hand is now wholly illegible. Tenzou thinks about masks and codenames and the brushstrokes the rain's erased.

"That's true," he tells Sandaime at last. "But there's also no reason I have to be me."


End file.
